Reach the Beach Training Rides -Portland Bicycling Club

Reach the Beach Training Rides

February 19 will be the start of our Reach the Beach (RTB) training series. If you look at our Portland Bicycling Club ride calendar you will soon see MANY rides listed as RTB training rides. You regular club riders may wonder what the heck is going on!

Dick Weber leads RTB training rides each Saturday. They will continue through May 7 with Reach the Beach being on May 14. The first ride is a starter ride of 30 miles. The routes get longer and longer as Dick strives to get the RTB riders in shape to ride the full 100-mile “century” route so they can reach their goal.

Kathleen Hellem, Dave McQuery, and I will try to be at the start of these Saturday rides as frequently as possible to offer shorter variations of the traditional rides. That way, those who aren’t ready for Dick’s full ride or are not planning to ride the full, 100-RTB route have an opportunity to ride with experienced riders at a slower pace on a shorter ride. Again, you are all welcome even if you aren’t doing Reach the Beach. These are club rides.

Additionally, in the past we learned that RTB riders would like to have some Sunday ride options. Rather than go to a lot of effort to incorporate some new Sunday rides into our long-utilized core group of routes, we have relied on Corey Eng in recent years to simply make his Sunday westside rides “RTB Training Rides.” This has been successful the last couple of years, and I hope other ride leaders will also supplement with their own favorite rides.

If you aren’t directly involved in Reach the Beach, don’t feel left out. We need all of you! Please attend these rides, as many as you can. If there are new riders, please reach out to them, encourage them, and assist them as you see fit. Many of these riders need the knowledge and skills you have accumulated over your many years of cycling. Take the time to talk to them.

I see these RTB training rides as a perfect avenue to attract new members. Let’s show them what a great organization Portland Bicycling Club is and demonstrate by our words and actions why they will want to keep riding with us after Reach the Beach.

Thank you all for your ongoing support.

Ann Morrow, RTB Training Series Ride Co-Leader